Life Library — Vocation

Called by the Gospel — All Christians have a calling in the church. We all have been called into faith. And we all are called to a local congregation, where we each have a part to play in the community of faith.

Called to Be Citizens — Christians are called to be citizens: to obey laws, pay their taxes and honor — and pray for — their governing officials. Patriotic feelings and acts of civic-mindedness are fitting responses to the blessings God has given this country and the citizenship to which He has called us.

Called to Our Work — We don’t choose our vocations; God chooses us for them. The Christian can understand the ordinary labors of life to be charged with meaning. Through our labor, no matter how humble, God is at work.

God at Work — Every Christian has a particular calling from God. With the doctrine of vocation, ordinary relationships, the 9-to-5 routine, taking care of the kids, the work-a-day world — the way we spend most hours of the day — become charged with the presence of God.

Masks of God — Luther puts it strongly: Vocations are “masks of God.” On the surface, we see an ordinary human face — our mother, the doctor, the teacher, the waitress, our pastor — but, beneath the appearances, God is ministering to us through them. God is hidden in human vocations.

Vocation: Fruit of the Liturgy — In Martin Luther’s teaching on the dual existence of the Christian, we observe a connection with the teaching of the two governments or two kingdoms. The Christian does not seek to escape or withdraw from the world as in monasticism, but rather he lives out his calling in the particular place where God has located him.

Your Family Vocation — Every Christian — indeed, every human being — has been called by God into a family. Our very existence came about by our parents. Luther says, “God has given this walk of life, fatherhood and motherhood, a special position of honor, higher than that of any other walk of life under it.”

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